Questions before my M6040 Purchase

[air19]

Hi All,

I've been reading various threads on this forum for months and appreciate all the information so far. In the next month I will probably be moving forward on an M6040 purchase and I have a couple of key questions I need to decide on before then. Your help would be appreciated.

As a quick background, I've been a very satisified owner of an M5030DT (60hp with 50 to the PTO), but after 20 years it is spending more time in the shop than I can afford with all the work around here.

We live on a 600 acre forest farm - about 500 acres of forest, 80 acres of fields, and 20 acres of water features. We use the tractor for the following tasks: 1) brushhogging the fields once, sometimes twice a year - takes about 80 hours each time, slow going avoiding all the rocks; 2) snowblowing the road, barnyard, and our cross country skiing parking areas - takes about 2 to 3 hours each time, during a real winter here in Vermont, we could be doing this 2 to 3 times a week; 3) cleaning up in the forest after the logging operations each year - pulling out 10 to 30 trees with the winch, working the rough skidder trails into smooth ski trails with the hoe, box blade, and york rake - we spend about 80 hours each year doing this; 4) doing various loader work moving materials around; in an average year we put about 300 hours on the tractor.

The M6040 is very similar in size to our old M5030DT which has fulfilled all our needs. I would like to make the big jump and get a cab because of all the winter snowblowing and summer brushhogging. The forest work will be riskier with the cab but we are traveling around on 12 foot wide ski trails.

Here are my big questions:

1) I have a big old Dual backhoe that mounts to the 3 point hitch instead of a subframe mount. I use it about 20 hours a year for rock and stump picking, and some trenchwork on the trails. Should I keep it and use it on the new M6040 or is the risk of this 3 point setup too much for the new tractor? My other options without it are to hire an excavator when needed, or think about a new Woods hoe later if I really need it. I'll get $3000 in trade for the old one, which is half way there toward my much desired cab.

2) I would really like to get a grappler for the M6040. With this size tractor should I be looking for a lighter weight grappler in the 350 lb range, or a heavier grappler in the 700 lb range. I would like to move more than just brush piles around. There are some large stumps and rocks that would go.

3) How should I weight the backend - with loaded tires, weights on the tires, or a rear ballast box. I know the easy answer is all of the above, but this tractor needs to go through some wet areas in the fields for mowing, and when we are traveling in the woods we don't want to damage the ski trails by creating tire ruts everywhere. To help here a little, I'm thinking about R4s instead of R1s.

Any advise on these questions would be greatly appreciated. For any fellow M5030 owners here is a picture of one that has done us well for many years.

Thanks, Mike

 

[slowzuki]

1) The hoe should be fine, it doesn't sound like you abuse your equipment. I don't think the new M is much weaker structurally than your 5030. That said the 85 and 95 have stronger hitches.

2) You can handle the larger grapple but it is more money and if you are doing light work the lighter one will last ok. I wouldn't be tearing out rocks with it though, your loader would be able to tweak the light one I think.

3) I would go with R-1's but you can get the wide floatation fronts. This really helps reduce the cutting in when using the loader. The rear weighting, the loaded tires are handy if you always use a loader but it makes it harder to fix flats, and you already know the heavy part. I'm not sure if cast centers are available on the smaller M's but they are a good comprimise. You probably already have a good rear weight in the form of an implement like the backhoe or snowblower.

I'm not sure the wide fronts are listed in the options but the dealer should be able to get them. I've attached a pic of an M6800 with them.

 

[ozzie tractor]

i agree with slowzuki on the hoe etc.
i personally like the wheel wieghts. the wheel weights are available in australia so i assume they are also available everywhere.

 

[air19]

Thanks for the responses.

Those wide front R1s look nice. I will definitely ask my dealer about them.

My dealer talked about another hoe option. He would take my Dual 10-footer in trade for a new Woods 90X hoe for $5K additional. The Woods has a subframe assembly and is the only one I know set far enough away to work with an M series cab model. The subframe is a definite plus to take the stress away from the tractor frame and I'm sure it's easier to mount than my old Dual. The other advantage would be smoother running hydraulics. My hoe jerks around a lot even when I'm trying to just feather the controls. My assumption is that a new one would be a lot smoother for the first couple of years.

I was talking with my dealer about the grapplers and he was strongly suggesting that I go with a heavier duty model, given the strength of the loader. Within the same conversation he talked about the benefits of going up to the M7040 with the front differential and additional horsepower. His upcharge to go from the 6040 to the 7040 was $1600. You can see where this is going. Now I'm thinking about the 7040 and of course then a heavier duty grappler. Someone stop me if they think this is a bad decision.

My dealer hasn't delivered an M series out the door without loading the rear tires. He is very concerned about the tractor stability with the strength of the loader. I'm still hesitant about loading the tires and being heavy all the time. My old M5030 didn't have loaded tires and with a good rear implement as a counter balance, I never had problems with the loader, even with stones. Is the center of gravity different on these newer M series causing more instability? My old M series does weigh 1000 lbs. more before any loading.

Questions Questions Questions.

- Mike

 

[Glowplug]

A heavy grapple (800+ lbs.) should do fine for moving heavy stumps. But you probably don't necessarily need it. Just ask IslandTractor! But THIS grapple weighs over 800 lbs. if I remember correctly.

 

[slowzuki]

Its up to you of course, how much do you really use your hoe? Would it be cheaper to buy a mini-escavator or rent one? A mini can dig a lot and you can get them used for 7000-12000$ in decent shape. Thats a lot of rental time too.

I can't deny there are several benefits going to the 7040 other than more cost.

The ballast problem, I'm convinced unloaded tires ride better, I know they are easier to plug and change when flatted and they make the tractor lighter when required.

That said using a loader without enough ballast is annoying and sometimes dangerous. With cast rims I doubt you need the ballast, and can always pick up an implement. The extendable arms make hitching new tractors up pretty easy.

Its a tough call but you can always get the tires loaded later, but you can't unload them yourself.

Thanks for the responses.

Those wide front R1s look nice. I will definitely ask my dealer about them.

My dealer talked about another hoe option. He would take my Dual 10-footer in trade for a new Woods 90X hoe for $5K additional. The Woods has a subframe assembly and is the only one I know set far enough away to work with an M series cab model. The subframe is a definite plus to take the stress away from the tractor frame and I'm sure it's easier to mount than my old Dual. The other advantage would be smoother running hydraulics. My hoe jerks around a lot even when I'm trying to just feather the controls. My assumption is that a new one would be a lot smoother for the first couple of years.

I was talking with my dealer about the grapplers and he was strongly suggesting that I go with a heavier duty model, given the strength of the loader. Within the same conversation he talked about the benefits of going up to the M7040 with the front differential and additional horsepower. His upcharge to go from the 6040 to the 7040 was $1600. You can see where this is going. Now I'm thinking about the 7040 and of course then a heavier duty grappler. Someone stop me if they think this is a bad decision.

My dealer hasn't delivered an M series out the door without loading the rear tires. He is very concerned about the tractor stability with the strength of the loader. I'm still hesitant about loading the tires and being heavy all the time. My old M5030 didn't have loaded tires and with a good rear implement as a counter balance, I never had problems with the loader, even with stones. Is the center of gravity different on these newer M series causing more instability? My old M series does weigh 1000 lbs. more before any loading.

Questions Questions Questions.

- Mike

 

[Z-Michigan]

My two cents - I would be inclined to get the cast rim centers rather than load the tires. It's clean, simple, and they don't stick out like most wheel weights do.

 

[Glowplug]

My two cents - I would be inclined to get the cast rim centers rather than load the tires. It's clean, simple, and they don't stick out like most wheel weights do.

You could do like I did and get the cast wheel disks AND filled tires! I haven't read through all of this thread but the cast center disks are not available on the M6040. They are available only on the M7040. The M7040 is worth the small extra $$$ IMO.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Glowplug, is the main purpose of your machine to crush rocks and find dormant faults in the earth? Any guess as to how much weight you're carrying on the back end? Must be enormous.

I guess I would be tempted to jump to an M7040 for $1500 or so if you can't get cast centers on a smaller model.

 

[Bob_Young]

Air19,
My new Woods BH90X is quite smooth on all controls except the Boom. It takes a fair amount of feathering concentration when raising the Boom to keep it from jerking up and whacking the stop. I'm new to hoes, but have heard that this is common. With all the weight on the boom cylinder, it at least seems reasonable.

The 90X has a rate control valve on the swing cylinder only. This works well but isn't really needed on that axis. Feathering is easy on swing as the cylinder load is constant and not that large. Someday I might look into plumbing that valve into the boom circuit to relieve some of the jerkiness.

My L4300 is a bit light for the 90X. The hoe drags it around more than I'd like. The M6040 would be ideal for it. In another year or two I hope to be able to justify an M-series.

Woods sent the wrong mounting brackets for the subframe twice. The service dept. head at my dealership had to go direct to Woods engineering to get the right parts. The Woods service rep. insisted the dealership could "make the (wrong) parts work.". Not sure what I would've ended up with if my service guy wasn't so dedicated to doing it right. This little skirmish did delay delivery by a few weeks....but with my blessing.

Don't forget to get a thumb.
FWIW
Bob